Eating Mindfully is very frugal!!!

I was reading beliefnet.com this morning, and found this post about eating mindfully for your mental and physical health. My first thought was, wow, what a great way to be frugal too, like killing 2 birds with 1 stone!

Eat Mindfully

I have found that the key component to adhering to a proper eating plan and getting in exercise is: planning. I know, not very exciting. But it works! If I have meals planned ahead, then I am less likely to mindlessly nosh. It also helps to have meals prepared ahead--to the extent possible. Also, regular meals tends to reduce the temptation to stray from eating plan. This takes some time to do, but if you are wanting to improve your overall health, it's worth the time to do this.

Homemade Doggie Biscuits!

Our sweet little Chelsea and our best friends dog, Penny, LOVE homemade biscuits. It's hard to tell which ones they like the best, I've made peanut butter, veggie, just a regular bone, and the cheesy bones, they seem to love them all! 

I decided to start making my own dog bones when Chelsea & Penny got sick from eating store bought bones, so I started looking for recipes online. I finally put some recipes together after seeing some that I thought sounded good. Then I found a bone cookie cutter for under .50 cents, which makes about 70 bones. I recently found a little bit bigger cutter at a thrift store for 10 cents, this one makes about 50 bones. I have fun making these for the dogs, and the dogs love eating them hot out of the oven, well slightly cooler than warm out of the oven. 

These are fun presents to give to your dog friends too. I'm thinking about doing some for valentines day, heart shaped of course! I sent the peanut butter bones out to my family for their dogs Christmas gifts, but I did a little gingerbread men instead of the bone cutter. I also sent out veggie bones in different sizes.

Here is the recipe for my favorite to make. They dough is really easy to work with, and the bones smell so good while baking....

"Chelsea's Cheesy Biscuits"

3 cups whole wheat flour

2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1 egg, beaten

1 cup milk

1. Combine flour and garlic powder in mixing bowl.

2. Gradually add oil, cheese, milk and egg. Mix up into dough until well blended.

3. Knead dough on a floured surface for about a minute or 2.

4. Roll out dough to about 1/2" and cut with your favorite doggie cookie cutter.

5. Place on a lightly greased cookie sheet, I use butter flavored pam.

6. Bake at 400 for 20 to 25 minutes.

7. Cool on rack and store at room temp in a container with a loose fitting lid. I have an old cookie jar that

I use. The dogs know exactly where it is! 

I hope that your dogs enjoy this recipe as much as ours do. I have a couple more that I will post when I 

make them, I usually make dog biscuits every couple of weeks, so keep your eye out for the next one!

Doing the menu thing!

I am really trying to stick to the menu idea. I want to get our food budget way down, it's so stupid to spend so much money on food. 

So here is my menu for the next 2 weeks

11/17- Bean and Cheese Enchilada's

11/18- French Toast

11/19- Leftovers

11/20- Meatloaf

11/21- Hot Dogs & Chili

11/22- Burgers

11/23- Beef Stew

11/24- Leftovers

11/25- Out to eat for family members birthday

11/26- Homemade Pizza

11/27- Thanksgiving!!!

11/28- Leftovers from Thanksgiving

11/29- Spaghetti

11/30- Turkey Creation

Breakfasts will be:

French toast leftovers

Breakfast sandwiches

Oatmeal

Protein smoothies

Mocha chip scones

Amish friendship bread

Lunches:

Leftovers from Dinner

Snacks:

airpop popcorn

Amish friendship bread

rice crackers & hummus

crackers and peanut butter

Snap peas & baby carrots